First Look

Eduard from the Czech Republic is easily the most prolific producer of aftermarket details. Period. Their series of photo-etched detail sets have brought additional fidelity to otherwise bland subjects, and have taken even the best-produced models and kicked them up a notch or two with details that cannot be produced with injection-molded plastic.

When Eduard introduced their color printing process on their photo-etch parts, they brought a whole new world of possibilities for model detailing. I really enjoyed seeing the two-sided color printing of their 1/350 US Navy carrier deck crew as there is now a level of fidelity that could not be achieved by hand previously.

This new release ventures into a new area for Eduard - photo-etched and color-printed insignia in 1/48 scale. This set provides a wide range of insignia found on RAF uniforms including service medals, specialist ratings, foreign (non-British) national IDs for the shoulders, and aircrew wings.

You'll have to know your medals (or take your best guess) as there is no printed guide provided to tell you which award is which. Nevertheless, these will add a very nice look to figures wearing more formal attire as well as those missing uniform details on standard aircrew kit.

There are enough details here to update a squadron of personnel, or at least several bomber crews.